Siddharth Poddar

The Asian buyout firm has hired an Indonesian director and plans to establish an office in Jakarta by November.

With the second investment from Carlyle Asia Partners III - which has so far garnered $2.1 billion in commitments - the firm has become the latest buyout group to target China's dairy sector.

KKR has further backed its first-ever Indian investment, bringing its stake to 79% in the telecoms-focused software company.

The retail chain is expected to launch Australia's largest public listing in two years.

Michael Ricciardi, Enrique Cuan and Alan Pardee will lead the 24-strong team for Mercury Capital, which will raise private equity, private equity real estate and infrastructure funds globally.

The global buyout firm has reportedly hired three banks to lead the IPO of Australian department store Myer Group, which it acquired alongside the Myer family office in April 2006.

The China-focused firm plans to raise both a real estate and private equity fund denominated in the local currency.

Fundraising for Asia-focused funds may have stalled, but it has less to do with Asia than it has to with a slowdown in the pace of investments globally, writes Siddharth Poddar.

The government wants to make investing in New Zealand simpler, faster and less expensive for foreign investors.

The sovereign fund, which already owns a portion of Blackstone's management company, will reportedly pay $258m for new shares in the Hong Kong-based alternative investment firm.